| Jan 31 | Japan's listed firms keep boosting profits (AFP) |
| Japan's listed companies saw their profits rise 14 percent in the October-December period for a third straight quarter-on-quarter gain, a newspaper survey showed Sunday. The survey, conducted by the leading business daily Nikkei, covered 438 non-financial firms that had released their October-December earnings reports by January 29. It excluded start-up markets. The earnings, in terms of pretax profits, represented a 120-percent gain from a year earlier to about 1.78 trillion yen (20 billion dollars), the Nikkei said. |
| Jan 30 | M&A investment involving Japanese firms down 42% in 2009 (AP) |
| Mergers and acquisitions investment involving Japanese companies totaled 7.24 trillion yen in 2009, down 42.2 percent from the previous year to its lowest level since 2003, according to data compiled by M&A adviser Recof Corp. The number of M&A deals was 1,957 last year, down 18.4 percent and falling below 2,000 for the first time in six years. |
| Jan 29 | Nikkei stock index falls to 6-week low (AP) |
| Japan's Nikkei stock index dropped to a six-week low Friday, pressured by a strong yen and fresh concern over the U.S. economic outlook as major technology firms gave disappointing forecasts. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average lost 216.25 points, or 2.1 percent, to 10,198.04, the lowest finish since Dec. 21 when the index ended at 10,183.47. The Nikkei index fell 3.7 percent for the week. The broader Topix index fell 1.4 percent Friday to 901.12. |
| Jan 29 | Property investment funds 'downbeat about Japan' (hedgeweek.com) |
| Commercial property investment funds have become increasingly downbeat about the Japanese market, new figures show. Statistics published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) showed that the market for the commercial property asset class became more active across 70 per cent of the world in the last three months of 2009. |
| Jan 29 | Japan drug firm Otsuka to go public (Reuters) |
| Otsuka Holdings Co Ltd, a maker of drugs and food products, is preparing to go public this summer, two sources told Reuters -- a move that may make it Japan's fourth biggest drug firm by market value. Otsuka Pharmaceutical, the biggest unit of the holding firm, has developed schizophrenia drug Abilify and teamed up with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY.N) to sell it in the United States and some other markets. |
| Jan 27 | Tokyo stocks fall for 4th day as uncertainty looms for global economy (AP) |
| Tokyo stocks fell Wednesday for the fourth straight trading day, sending the Nikkei index to a fresh five-week closing low, as uncertainty about the global economic outlook gripped investors while they waited for fresh cues from more Japanese corporate earnings reports. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 73.20 points, or 0.71 percent, from Tuesday to 10,252.08, its lowest closing level since Dec. 21. |
| Jan 27 | What do some investors see in Japan that S&P doesn't? (MarketWatch) |
| These days, there are two Japans: the nation mired in deflation with a crushing public-debt burden, and the one with corporate recovery potential that investors don't want to miss. Both of these descriptions are equally true, which is why investors need to look past this week's gloomy Japan headlines. Late Tuesday, Standard & Poor's put a negative outlook on Japan's AA sovereign long-term credit rating, expressing concern about its diminishing economic policy flexibility to deal with growing debt levels and deflationary pressures. Read more on S&P's downgrade of Japan's rating outlook. |
| Jan 26 | Nikkei falls to 5-wk closing low on stronger yen, weak Asian shares (AP) |
| Tokyo stocks failed to sustain early gains and closed sharply lower Tuesday, with the key Nikkei index falling to a five-week closing low as a stronger yen versus the U.S. dollar and declines in almost all Asian equities weighed on investor sentiment. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 187.41 points, or 1.78 percent, from Monday to 10,325.28, marking the lowest closing level since Dec. 21. |
| Jan 26 | Expert gives tips to foreign firms on M&As in Japan (Japan Times) |
| Foreign businesses looking to take over Japanese firms should show patience and be prepared to learn from their newly acquired companies, according to a British academic and former banker with experience working in Japan. George Olcott says lessons can be learned from a series of successful and disastrous foreign acquisitions of Japanese firms in the late 1990s. And the academic believes that despite a slowdown in the number of foreign mergers and acquisitions of Japanese firms, the pharmaceutical, automotive and food sectors face "significant" problems of scale and are vulnerable to foreign takeover. |
| Jan 25 | Nikkei hits 4-wk closing low, earnings in focus (Reuters) |
| Japan's Nikkei average hit a four-week closing low on Monday as exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) slid on a stronger yen and after Google's revenue figures failed to live up to bullish expectations. But earnings-related media reports prompted much of the action in individual stocks, with Canon (7751.T) climbing on a report that its operating profit appears to have topped initial forecasts due to robust camera demand. [ |
| Jan 25 | Bourses other than TSE struggle to survive (Yomiuri) |
| As more companies do away with dual listings of their shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and other bourses, stock exchanges other than the TSE are facing a challenging environment. A dual listing is when a company registers its shares or other securities for trading on more than one exchange. While dual listings are considered conducive to increasing liquidity for a firm's shares, many companies have opted to cease listing on such bourses as the Osaka Securities Exchange and Nagoya Stock Exchange to have their shares traded on the TSE alone. |
| Jan 22 | Tokyo stocks plunge on U.S. banking concerns, firmer yen (AP) |
| ) Tokyo stocks plunged Friday with investor risk appetite battered by a U.S. proposal for tougher regulations on banks, which sent New York shares tumbling overnight and the yen to strengthen versus the U.S. dollar, while growing concerns about China's lending curbs also cast a shadow. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 277.86 points, or 2.56 percent, from Thursday to 10,590.55, marking its lowest level since Dec. 30. |
| Jan 22 | Japan May Push Derivatives Trading to Overseas Clearinghouses (BusinessWeek) |
| Japan's Financial Services Agency may demand that derivatives traders process over-the-counter transactions through overseas clearinghouses as it seeks to increase transparency and reduce risk in financial markets. The regulator is considering whether to centralize trading of popular derivatives such as interest-rate swaps in local clearinghouses, link domestic clearinghouses with foreign ones, or move clearing entirely to overseas houses. |
| Jan 22 | Made in Japan: A New Bull Market (gurufocus.com) |
| Japan has now been through a 20-year bear market. Tokyo's Nikkei - think of it as Japan's Dow Jones Industrial Average - put in a new low last year. Even though it's rallied a bit since then, it's still down about 75% from its all-time high in 1989. That's a brutal bear market. After all that, there is still no shortage of bad news on Japan. There are plenty of problems, including a ballooning pile of government debt. Some think a debt crisis is inevitable. |
| Jan 21 | Pioneer plans public share offering worth around 20 bil. yen (AP) |
| Pioneer Corp. plans to increase its capital through a public share offering worth around 20 billion yen, sources close to the matter said Thursday. The Osaka-based electronics maker is now arranging details of the plan so it can carry out the tender offer by the end of March, they said. |
| Jan 21 | Tokyo stocks snap 3-day losing streak, buoyed by high-tech shares (AP) |
| Tokyo stocks snapped a three-day losing streak Thursday with investor sentiment lifted by gains in high-tech shares on a weaker yen and hopes for an upbeat business performance by Japanese high-tech companies, with the earnings report season set to get into full swing next week. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average climbed 130.89 points, or 1.22 percent, from Wednesday to 10,868.41. |
| Jan 21 | Japan's First Rights Offering Faces 'Challenges,'Nomura Says (BusinessWeek) |
| Japan's first rights offering faces time and administrative "challenges" as the country's brokerages, companies and investors prepare for introduction of the capital raising method, according to Nomura Holdings Inc. Rights offerings will require as long as three months to issue shares, overseas investors may face added regulatory procedures, and brokers may have extra administrative costs, Nomura Securities Co. Chief Strategist Seiichiro Iwasawa said in a report to clients dated yesterday. |
| Jan 18 | Japanese stocks end down 1.16 per cent (Economic Times) |
| Japanese share prices closed down 1.16 per cent on Monday, tracking losses on Wall Street as investors took profits following a strong start to 2010, dealers said. The Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index declined 127.02 points to 10,855.08, stepping back from last Friday's 15-month high. |
| Jan 16 | Trading in JAL stocks explodes as delisting threat looms (Mainichi) |
| Over 1.04 billion shares of Japan Airlines (JAL) were traded on Thursday, hitting a new daily trade record amid mounting fears over the delisting of the troubled airline. JAL stocks accounted for about 32 percent of all the shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE)'s First Section that day. |
| Jan 14 | Shanghai ousts TSE as Asia's top bourse (Asahi) |
| The Shanghai Stock Exchange was Asia's top stock market in terms of trading value in 2009, unseating the long-reigning Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Shanghai bourse jumped to the world's third largest, up from seventh in 2008, according to data compiled by the Paris-based World Federation of Exchanges. |
| Jan 13 | Japan Airlines heads towards bankruptcy (guardian.co.uk) |
| Shares in Japan Airlines plummeted 81% today to just ¥7 amid strong indications that the firm will file for bankruptcy and have its shares delisted as early as next week. Asia's biggest airline is expected to submit itself to a government-led rehabilitation package that will include a complete reduction of its capital. Investors, whose shares were each worth ¥213 at the beginning of last year, will see the value of their investment wiped out. |
| Jan 12 | Nikkei flat as banks fall, resource firms rise (Reuters) |
| The Nikkei average was little changed on Tuesday, as bank shares slid on concern about exposure to Japan Airlines Corp (9205.T), but Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T) and other resource firms rose on higher gold prices. Shares of Fast Retailing (9983.T), which runs the Uniqlo chain of budget clothing stores, fell after Goldman Sachs said the firm's recent earnings forecast upgrade was largely priced in. |
| Jan 12 | Foreign investors turn net buyers of Japanese stocks in 2009 (AP) |
| Nonresident investors turned net buyers of Japanese equities in 2009 for the first time in two years by acquiring a net 28.3 billion yen, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday. The number signifies an improvement from 2008, when foreign investors discharged a net 7,378.6 billion yen, the ministry said. But the investors remained net sellers of medium- and long-term Japanese bonds in 2009 for the second consecutive year by unloading a net 6,990.0 billion yen, it said. |
| Jan 09 | Asahi Breweries Beats Kirin In Battle For Japan Market Share (Wall Street Journal) |
| Japan's Asahi Breweries Ltd. (2502.TO) managed to maintain the top spot in domestic market share during the calendar year 2009, according to beer sales data released Friday by Asahi and its arch rival Kirin Holdings Co. (2503.TO). |
| Jan 08 | Tokyo stocks rise on weaker yen, Nikkei marks new 15-month high (AP) |
| Tokyo stocks rose Friday, with the Nikkei index hitting a fresh 15- month closing high, as a weaker yen buoyed exporters, outweighing profit-taking ahead of U.S. employment data and a three-day weekend in Japan. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended up 116.66 points, or 1.09 percent, from Thursday to 10,798.32, its highest finish since Oct. 3, The benchmark index briefly touched a high of 10,816.45 at one point, followed by a short dip into negative territory. |
| Jan 07 | Nikkei snaps 3-day rally to fall on profit-taking (AP) |
| The key Nikkei stock index fell Thursday, erasing gains in directionless trading as investors secured profits after a three-day rally that took the benchmark index to a 15-month closing high the previous day. After moving narrowly in and out of positive territory, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 49.79 points, or 0.46 percent, from Wednesday to 10,681.66. |
| Jan 07 | SMFG to go on offensive / Financial group hopes to raise 800 bil. yen ahead of tighter rules (Yomiuri) |
| Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.'s intention to raise about 800 billion yen via stock sales shows it has found it necessary to rapidly improve the quality of its capital to ensure its international competitiveness amid a global trend toward stiffening capital requirements on banks. However, the news of SMFG's capital-boosting plan was not well received at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which put a damper on the rise in the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average in afternoon trading Tuesday. Stock prices that had been on an upswing since December lost momentum over fears that such a massive capital increase would reduce the value of the bank's existing shares. |
| Jan 07 | Tokyo bourse's Saito urges listed units to merge with parent firms (Japan Times) |
| As many as 400 listed subsidiaries of some of Japan's biggest companies should merge with their publicly traded parents, said Atsushi Saito, president of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Saito said he wouldn't go as far as forcing mergers, after Tsutomu Okubo, a lawmaker for the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, said he plans legislation to prohibit the listing of units. Okubo said new laws are needed to protect minority shareholders. |
| Jan 06 | Despite Two Lost Decades, The Japanese Have Plenty Of Money (Business Insider) |
| One reason for Japan's inability to reverse the Nikkei's two-decade slump could be a lack of motivation. Most Japanese moved heavily into fixed income following their market crash, and have since enjoyed a huge rally in ten-year government bonds, according to The Economist. |
| Jan 06 | Japan retail fund inflows up 50 pct in 2009 (Reuters) |
| Inflows into Japanese retail investment trust funds jumped 50 percent to $31 billion in 2009 from a year earlier due to strong demand for instruments related to emerging markets, data showed on Tuesday. Japanese individuals, who hold $15 trillion in personal savings largely parked in low-yielding accounts, have increased investments in mutual funds as the global economy slowly starts to pick up after the financial crisis. |
| Jan 05 | Tokyo stocks edge up on economy hopes but stronger yen trims gains (AP) |
| Tokyo stocks edged higher Tuesday on bolstered global economic recovery confidence, although initial sharp gains which briefly took the key Nikkei index to a 15-month intraday high were mostly erased by a rapidly strengthening yen. After hitting a high of 10,791.04 in the early afternoon, the 225- issue Nikkei Stock Average rapidly lost steam to close at 10,681.83, up 27.04 points or 0.25 percent from Monday to barely renew its highest finish since Oct. 3, 2008. |
| Jan 05 | Japan ranks 5th in top 10 global risks for investors in 2010 (AP) |
| Japan was fifth in a list of top 10 risks for global investors in the world for 2010 while U.S.-China relations placed top, a U.S. geopolitical risk research and consulting firm said in a report released Monday. Iran came second and European fiscal divergence third, according to the report titled "Top Risks for 2010" released by the New York-based Eurasia Group. |
| Jan 04 | TSE's new high-speed trading system up and running without hitch (AP) |
| The Tokyo Stock Exchange's new high-speed trading system, named the "arrowhead," got off to a smooth start Monday, the bourse's first trading day of 2010. The system, marking the TSE's first full overhaul in 10 years, substantially shortens processing time for stock trading orders to 0.005 second from the 2 to 3 seconds in the previous system. |
| Jan 04 | What does Year of Tiger hold? / Economists split in predictions for direction of share prices in 201 (Yomiuri) |
| An old adage among stock company employees and investors says: "In the Year of the Ox, [stock prices] stumble. In the Year of the Tiger, they leap. In the Year of the Rabbit, they jump." It means that stock prices stagger along during the Year of the Ox, turn upward in the following Year of the Tiger and then surge in the following Year of the Rabbit. But looking back, the Nikkei stock index of 225 selected issues fell in four of the five Years of the Tiger since the end of World War II. The index did not gain ground as the saying suggested it would. |
| Jan 03 | Japanese stock market may get back into full swing next week (Daily Times) |
| Japanese stock market trading is expected to get back into full swing next week as investors return from year-end holidays, eyeing US economic data for clues on recovery prospects, analysts said. The Nikkei-225 index of the Tokyo Exchange edged up 51.73 points, or 0.49 percent, over the three trading days to Wednesday to end the year at 10,546.44, stepping back from a four-month high. The index climbed 19 percent over 2009, after a 42.1 percent plunge in 2008. |
| Jan 01 | Osaka stocks mark year-end gain in 2009 (Mainichi) |
 The Osaka Securities Exchange (OSE) ended the year's trading Wednesday with the OSE 250 Adjusted Stock Price Average reaching 18,194.04 yen, surpassing the previous year's closing figure for the first time in three years.
The closing price was up 6.2 percent from 2008. However, there is caution in the market over the possibility of a double bottom, and officials expect tough market conditions to continue next year.
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| Dec 31 | Tokyo stocks seen to improve in 2nd half of 2010 (AP) |
| Tokyo stocks are expected to head for a slow start through spring 2010 before picking up in the latter half when earnings improvement for exporters becomes more visible while global economies recover, and the U.S. dollar is expected to advance against the yen. The Democratic Party of Japan-led government's policies to tackle deflation, as well as political situations in light of a midsummer upper house election, will also hold the key for Japanese equities to catch up in their lag behind world peers after hitting a 26.5-year low in March 2009, brokers said. |
| Dec 30 | Tokyo stocks fall on 2009 last trading day, Nikkei misses year's high (AP) |
| Tokyo stocks fell Wednesday as year-end profit-taking and a soured mood from Japan Airlines' plunge to a record low outweighed gains from a weaker yen on the final trading day of the year. Despite hitting a four-month intraday high of 10,707.51 at the outset, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average closed down 91.62 points, or 0.86 percent, from Tuesday to 10,546.44. |
| Dec 30 | TSE touts sharp increase in IPOs (Japan Times) |
| New listings on the Tokyo Stock Exchange may rise tenfold to as many as 100 in 2010 as an increasing number of technology companies seek capital, according to Atsushi Saito, president of the bourse. There were 10 initial public offerings on the TSE in 2009, according to data from T&C Financial Research Inc., while 19 companies listed on exchanges across the nation during the year. |
| Dec 29 | As many as 160 firms exit from Tokyo, Osaka stock exchanges in 2009 (AP) |
| As many as 160 companies delisted their stocks from the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Osaka Securities Exchange in 2009, with the two bourses accounting for roughly half each of the total, officials at the two said Tuesday. The greater number of delistings stemmed from bankruptcies of companies that took blows from the anemic economy as well as mergers and acquisitions, the officials said. |
| Dec 29 | Nikkei ekes out 4-mth closing high; traders gain (Reuters) |
| Japan's Nikkei average eked out a four-month closing high on Tuesday, buoyed by trading firms such as Mitsui & Co (8031.T) after gains in oil and metals prices, while automakers also edged up. Japan Airlines (9205.T) fell over 10 percent at one point to a record low after media reports that a state-backed turnaround fund now weighing whether to support JAL with loans and investments was considering a bankruptcy filing as one component of its restructuring plan. |
| Dec 29 | Capital procurement hits record high (Yomiuri) |
| Japanese companies raised a record 18.62 trillion yen in capital markets both inside and outside the nation this year, according to a survey conducted by a financial research company. Four of the top five companies in terms of the amount of funds procured were megabanks and a securities firm, indicating that major financial institutions have beefed up their capital, according to Tokyo-based I-N Information Systems Ltd. |
| Dec 29 | Individual investors still gun-shy (Japan Times) |
 The government lifted restrictions on brokerages' stock trading fees a decade ago to prompt people to shift more of their savings to investments and invigorate the capital market. Despite the government's original goal of increasing the number of long-term individual shareholders to help stabilize companies' financial bases, however, few people appear to have embraced the idea of investing for the long haul.
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| Dec 28 | TSE set to launch new high-speed trading system on Jan. 4 (AP) |
| The Tokyo Stock Exchange is set to introduce a next- generation system from Jan. 4, the first trading day of 2010, modernizing its system for the first time in 10 years to substantially cut the processing time for stock trading orders. The system called "arrowhead" will shorten the time from receiving orders to completing them to 0.005 second from the current 2 to 3 seconds with the existing system, according to the bourse. |
| Dec 28 | Nikkei closes at 4-month high on strong industrial output data (AP) |
| Japan's key Nikkei stock index closed Monday at the highest level in four months on reassurances provided by stronger-than-expected industrial output data and the near-compilation of the fiscal 2010 budget. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 139.52 points, or 1.33 percent, from Friday to 10,634.23, closing at the highest level since Aug. 26 when it finished at 10639.71. |
| Dec 28 | Japan's Stocks Offer Bets on China 20 Years After Nikkei Peak (BusinessWeek) |
| Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average, the world's worst performer in the 20 years since its record high, offers a cheap way to bet on emerging markets, according to Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. The Nikkei has lost 73 percent since it climbed to a record 38,915.87 on Dec. 29, 1989, the worst performance of the world's major markets. |
| Dec 27 | Japan's stock market likely to be quiet (Daily Times) |
| Japan's stock market is likely to be quiet next week with many players away for the year-end holidays, analyts said Friday. Over the week to Dec 25, the Nikkei-225 index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange climbed 352.66 points, or 3.48 percent, to 10,494.71. |
| Dec 25 | Fears rise over strong yen, weak stocks (Yomiuri) |
| In the 100 days since the launch of the administration of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, the yen has shot up against the dollar and stock prices have stayed low and fluctuated in a narrow range. The spike in the yen on the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market can be partly attributed to ill-considered statements made by Cabinet members, while the stock market's inertia stems from distrust of the government's handling of economic policy and its lack of a growth strategy. |
| Dec 24 | Nikkei hits 3-month closing high above 10,500 on yen, global rallies (AP) |
| The key Nikkei stock index rose sharply Thursday to a three-month closing high above 10,500 as investors tested the market's upper limit with a weaker yen buoying exporters and gains in other major global markets lifting sentiment. Resuming trade after a national holiday, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 158.89 points, or 1.53 percent, from Tuesday to 10,536.92, its highest close since Sept. 24. |
| Dec 22 | Nikkei hits 3-mth closing high on yen; Isuzu jumps (Reuters) |
| Japan's Nikkei average rose 1.9 percent to a three-month closing high on Tuesday as a weaker yen lifted exporters, while Isuzu Motors (7202.T) jumped on a report that the truck maker wants to develop new diesel engines for General Motors [GM.UL]. Chip-related stocks got a boost after the Nikkei business daily reported Toshiba Corp (6502.T) and partner Sandisk Corp (SNDK.O) would jointly invest 150 billion yen ($1.7 billion) to boost their venture's production capacity by about 40 percent. |